In anticipation of some special Indian coffees we’re releasing later this month, we felt inspired to revisit this uniquely processed lot from the 2023–24 harvest at Ratnagiri Estate in India.

The ‘Carbonic Washed’ process featured in this lot begins with cherries that are precisely harvested based on Brix measurements before being sorted, pulped, and fermented in flushed stainless steel tanks for an impressive 92 hours. Once fermentation has broken down the remaining mucilage from the seed coat, the coffee is given a final fresh-water soak before being dried on raised beds.

Oftentimes, we find that coffees fermented for this long can present vinegar-like or even rotten fruit flavors. However, Mr. Ashok’s careful attention to detail has allowed him to push fermentation times with precise control, resulting in coffees with delicate sweetness and often distinct fruit-forward profiles. In this lot, we taste an array of such flavors, including strawberry and kiwi in the cup, along with vanilla wafer cookie and honeydew melon in the finish.